After 6,000 babies, doctor stops delivering

Thursday

Mar 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 27, 2008 at 8:06 PM

Six thousand babies should be enough for anybody.

Dr. H.L. Chen began his obstetrics/gynecology practice in Taylorville in 1975, but after 33 years and about 6,000 births, he’s decided to quit delivering babies. He’ll continue as an active member of the Taylorville Memorial Hospital staff but will provide only gynecological and primary care services.

Chris Dettro

Six thousand babies should be enough for anybody.

Dr. H.L. Chen began his obstetrics/gynecology practice in Taylorville in 1975, but after 33 years and about 6,000 births, he’s decided to quit delivering babies. He’ll continue as an active member of the Taylorville Memorial Hospital staff but will provide only gynecological and primary care services.

“I was just too tired,” Chen, 67, said Wednesday. “I couldn’t sleep at night if the babies weren’t delivered yet, and then I’d be too tired for surgery the next day.”

During much of his tenure, Chen has been not only Taylorville’s only obstetrician, but also the only obstetrician in a three-county area, he said.

“We are very grateful for the significant contribution that Dr. Chen has made to our community,” said Dan Raab, CEO of Taylorville Memorial. “We also look forward to his ongoing service to the health care of mothers and their children as he continues to provide prenatal and postnatal care in the years to come.”

“It’s disheartening,” said Lisa Tester of Nokomis about Chen’s leaving the baby business.

Chen delivered Tester’s daughter, Remi, at Taylorville Memorial on Feb. 25 and another daughter before that.

“He’s delivered my sister’s babies, too,” Tester said. “We think the world of him. He’s not only our doctor, but a friend, too.”

Tester said Springfield hospitals are 54 miles away, while Taylorville Memorial is half that distance for her.

“And I deliver really fast,” she said.

“Dr. Chen has always been very good to me, and I’ve always gotten the best care,” Tester said. “I’m glad he’s still going to be my doctor.”

In the late 1970s and ’80s, Chen said, about 250 babies were delivered annually at the Taylorville hospital.

“I think 300 was the most we ever delivered in a year,” he said.

But since the 1990s, the pace has slowed. Since 2000, Chen has limited himself to between 150 and 170 deliveries a year. Births at Taylorville Memorial declined by nearly 38 percent in the last four years, from 173 in 2004 to 108 in 2007.

Chen said Raab previously asked him to practice obstetrics for two more years and try to recruit someone to take his place in the community of around 11,000 people.

“We used the biggest recruiting firm in the country, and they couldn’t come up with one person in a nationwide search,” Chen said. “That’s not unusual, however.

“Illinois is not really a good climate for a young ob/gyn to establish his practice here.”

He cited the high cost of malpractice insurance and liability issues as reasons.

“Income really isn’t increasing, but overhead is going up, mostly because of the cost of malpractice insurance,” Chen said.

“I have tremendously enjoyed the past 33 years of my practice in Taylorville and the opportunity to care for so many mothers and their babies,” he said. “Christian County is a great place to live, and I feel very fortunate to continue to have the opportunity to practice in this area.

“Every time I go to Wal-Mart or Kroger, I see either my patients or a kid I delivered, or someone I took care of.”

He said a group of physicians in Springfield has agreed to accept referrals of his obstetrics patients and will deliver the babies at St. John’s Hospital.

Unit employees will have other opportunities to work at the hospital or within Memorial Health System, said Dan Raab, CEO of Taylorville Memorial. Several nurses have already transferred to other units or are working in the Family Maternity Suites at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield.

The Women’s Health Center takes in two wings and nearly 9,800 square feet on the hospital’s fourth floor. Plans for future use of the space are being evaluated, but no decisions have been made, Raab said.

“It’s kind of sad,” Chen said. “For over 100 years, this hospital had an OB department. That part of the building is going to look spooky.”

Taylorville Memorial is a critical access hospital that has been in operation since 1906. The hospital is one of six affiliates of Memorial Health System.

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